The 1951 Tour de France was the 38th edition of the Tour de France, taking place from 4 to 29 July. It consisted of 24 stages over . The race started outside Île-de-France for the first time since 1926; a change that remained permanent beyond 1951 with the exceptions of 1963, 1983, 1984, 1986 and 2003. The race was won by Swiss cyclist Hugo Koblet. Koblet used his time-trial abilities to win large amounts of time. Dutch cyclist Wim van Est made fame, not only by becoming the first Dutch cyclist to lead the Tour de France, but more by falling down a ravine in the leader's jersey. Teams As was the custom since the 1930 Tour de France, the 1951 Tour de France was contested by national and regional teams. The three major cycling countries in 1951, Italy, Belgium and France, each sent a team of 12 cyclists. Other countries sent teams of 8 cyclists: Switzerland, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Spain. The French regional cyclists were divided into four teams of 12 cyclists: Paris, Île-de-France/North-West, East/South-East and West/South-West. The last team of eight cyclists was made up out of cyclists from the French North African colonies. In the end, Luxembourg only sent 7 cyclists, so altogether this made 123 cyclists. There were 68 French cyclists (of which 1 French-Moroccan and 7 French-Algerian), 12 Italian, 12 Belgian, 8 Dutch, 8 Spanish, 8 Swiss and 7 Luxembourgian cyclists. The teams entering the race were: Switzerland Italy Belgium France Luxembourg Netherlands Spain Paris Île-de-France/North-West East/South-East West/South-West North Africa Route and stages The 1951 Tour de France started in Metz; it was the second time after the 1926 Tour de France that the start of the Tour de France was not in or near Paris. Unlike in previous years, the route was no longer around the perimeter of France, and the Massif Central mountains were visited for the first time. There were two rest days, in Limoges and Montpellier. The highest point of elevation in the race was at the summit of the Col d'Izoard mountain pass on stage 20. Race overview On the first stage, Hugo Koblet attacked almost immediately from the start. The peloton got back to him after . Koblet stayed calm for the next stages, until the individual time trial in stage seven, which he won. Initially, Bobet was reported to have won the time trial by one second. Koblet